The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for feeding astride folded signatures to a collection path, wherein a signature is lifted partially from a stack and gripped on the fold by a rotating conveyor drum and transported on the circumferential path of the conveyor drum to a discharge location with the fold facing forwardly. The signature is subsequently moved to the collection path from a following opening device which grips the signature in a marginal region opposite the fold and moves in an approximately opposite direction.
An apparatus for processing signatures in this manner reaches its upper performance limit at a throughput of approximately 20,000 printed copies per hour, mainly as a result of the high feed speed, the short decollation time and the large acceleration forces etc. Additional technical measures are therefore required to improve reliability and/or performance.
One bottleneck exists along the path extending from the capture location between the signature magazine and the adjacent conveyor drum to the discharge location between the conveyor drum and the opening device. The processing time and operating performance and the reliability of the decollation process may be improved by moving the signatures faster along certain section of this path and/or by clearing these sections earlier, in order to gain time for the next decollating cycle.